Transneft oil company is ready to construct an oil pipeline bypassing Belarus by mid-2008, the company’s president, Semyon Vainshtok is quoted as saying by Reuters. According to him, the time limits for construction of the Unecha-Primorsk oil pipeline will be very short even in terms of Transneft.
Earlier, in the beginning of the year Belarus stopped transiting the Russian oil to Europe. After the sides announced they reached a compromise, the Russian president ordered in early February to prepare for construction of a new pipeline bypassing Belarus and extend capacities of the Baltic System of Pipelines.
As Finam reminds, Transneft was established in 1992 on the basis of a department of the Russian Fuel and Energy Ministry. The company has 48,700 km of oil pipelines and transports 93% of oil in Russia.